Oh they're about to. Thanks very much, I might just use some creative liscence in that case. I have got a few drawings of different new astrofighters as well as my alliance transport freighter.I'd post a few pics except I'm partaking of my school's groovy network. Heh heh.So the "go between the carrier and the fighter" wold probably be a kind of fighter-bomber right?Thanks man that rocks.Another useful thing for games is that there are a few different varieties of astrofighter in the series; different paint jobs, weapons, like how they use lasers on episode 11 and torpedoes the rest of the time etc.

For those having problems viewing CO's pictures - you'll need to copy and past the URL into your browser because Tripod doesn't allow remote hosting of images.I like the designs very much - the Astroblaster reminds me of a Babylon 5 Star Fury/Thunderbolt a little and I can see a more modern anime style mixed in there too, like Zentraedi battle pods. Am I also sensing a little Delta Flyer mixed in somewhere? I could see the Astroblaster replacing the normal Astrofighter in a sort of space superiority role, while the Astrobomber could do ground attacks and would be more independent of the carriers. Of course, you might also need to upgrade the carriers to deal with the Astroblasters!BTW, can I just say that SFXB does not condone doodling in school lessons, even if the doodling is of a high standard! Mind you, I used to do just that aged 7 or so when the show first came out - we used to play space invaders only on paper! Gawd, the age is beginning to show!Oh, and BTW, yes, you're right about the Earth Astrofighters. There seem to be two distinct classes. Plus, there's the "star cruiser" which is destroyed in the first episode. It's not seen again, so I've always had the impression that they're few and far between for some reason (possibly many destroyed in Space War III?) or that the EDF emphasis is on having as many fighter wings as possible.

Yup Tripod really bites sometimes (I only use the cheapo version). Sorry folks. I put some links on my homepage; http://piersbell.tripod.comIt's yonks since I've seen Babylon 5, never liked it that much. Aah yes I have some plans for a new improved version of the carriers. No, man, I was talking about the imperials fighters, they appear in different colours with different guns(maybe it's just the light). I reckon the Astroblaster (don't worry that IS a working title) looks well mean. I can see it as an end of level boss. And about Mr Walton's German lessons, nobody could ever possibly countenance describing them as lessons. Doesn't that cruiser just get reused as a fighter on a few occasions, right at the beginning and near the end of the series? Aah theyre so pathetic aren't they? Can you say Cannon fodder?

Hmm. The differences between fighters is probably down to different sized models being used depending on what sort of shot they're in, plus as you say the lighting and quality of capture (if that's what you're going by). They're an unusual shape as well, I always have difficulties picturing them. I think they tend to have camouflage colour schemes, but very dark, and probably the Imperial Crest somewhere on them as well... Ah yes, here we go, bit of a silly angle but it's a well lit shot:As for your observation re: the cruiser being reused as a fighter - I've had a look at them and I think you're absolutely right. The "cruiser" is just the early fighters with an AWACS style radar turret added. Which begs the question, was it called a "cruiser" because of an error in the translation? When in fact it's just a sort of early-warning fighter on patrol, similar to the carrier-based mini-AWACS plane the Americans use whose name escapes me? Hawkeye perhaps? It would make sense, somehow that ship never looked big enough to be a cruiser but with just it in shot you don't have anything for reference size wise of course...

Like the drawings a lot! They look kind of russian in style I guess the original fighters had that gunship look like the Russian Hind D. Hey even George Lucas borrowed from that design for his gunships in AOTC.Considering that the Imperial Alliance ships are all based on animals and insects I'd like to see a lot more ground based kit. The original carriers would be a great starting point for a walker style vehicle, just replace the astro fighters with some insect style legs and you're ready to rumble.Shane.

Hmmm. I wonder if the tanks left behind on Keeli's planet were actually Imperial tanks? Not so sure about the pterodactycl like fighters, but the tanks have that twin eye thing going on like the carriers do. I think an Alliance vehicle based on something like a scorpion would look good. Heh. We should have been in charge of the merchandising first time round!

Yeah, those little AWACS, the ones with the fold-up wings F18 style. But in that picture up there those Astros are blue right? It's not just my monitor? But on BigDaix.com there's a pic of them and they're green and most of the time on the series they're just very dark-coloured. Also in Ep11 they use standard red laser bolts to wipe out those Parthenon-style temples. But on EP1 they use yellow laser torpedoes to attack Pluto base (The same type of application). This could be down to the fact that the first attacks on Keeli's planet were years before possibly before laser torpedoes were introduced on such small ships. As for Keeli's Hardware I reckoned it was a 3rd party (like R-41 Starchasers in Star Wars) that made it. Although some aspects of it look Imperial in design ethic. I have a few of those Pterodactyl fighters in level 2 as pirate ships. Or they could be even older Imperial units since they were really quite primative (Pirates would probably still use them).Does anyone know what they fired? I have them shooting unguided rockets at the minute since I saw a pic with what looked like a Harrier's rocket pod strapped on the bottom of the ship. (I saw them in action but the video was too fuzzy to show the finer points of battle). Thanks for the Battlecruiser pic. I think that'll come in very handy.Ive also got a rather kickin' new carrier that could go on land.As for those EDF ships I like the Ocean Fleet Astro, that's quite gorgeous really. I've got one of those to pop up every now and again to give X-Bomber a hand although its graphics are a little off.Thanks guys. That kicks ass.

I think the colour scheme of the fighter is a mix - bluey-green. I imagine that for the distance shots, or ones where they needed to get several in, they used smaller models and probably wouldn't have been able to use the same painting style. It's not obvious from that particular graphic, but looking at the shadows on the original (it was a photo against a backdrop) those 4 fighters that look like they're way off to the left of the battlecruiser are actually right on top of it - they're just very very small models. It's a clever piece of camera trickery. Don't forget, the video footage we have is quite old, and the lighting will have varied a lot. It's quite interesting to see how the different models came out when people tried recreating them for Genesis...Laser colour wise, the EDF fighters seem to fire red on at least one occasion. The Ptero fighters do, as you rightly say, appear to have some sort of torpedo style mounting beneath their primary hull. Might be a fuel tank, might be a missile. Otherwise, yes, unguided rockets seems reasonable based on what they shoot. Imperial fighters also seem to shoot those. I imagine the "real world" explanation is that the models are firing caps (there's quite a lot of smoke generally) and the laser effects were added in later. Let's see if some of these shots from my episode guide will help with visualising stuff:Hmm. Yes, the fighters don't always fire from those pods either with the laser effects over them - see how it looks like they're firing from the tip of their nose?Hmm. I could do with brightening some of the images that come off my captured sources. They're good quality but always seem to come out a little dark...